E
Earl of Grey
Guest
Since I suppose not everyone is active at the BFC forums and it could be interesting for others, I quote what Steve has posted over there:
As always we are hard at work on more than one thing at a time. The big project in our laps now is a new CM Family that takes the Western Front from October 1944 through to the end of the war. We had hoped to have Bulge out a few months ago, but there were some hiccups that caused delays. Delays don't make any of us happy, but it's better than the alternatives; releasing a game that really isn't ready or isn't as packed full of stuff as it should be. We're in the final testing stages so you'll start to hear more from us about the release quite soon.
The initial release focuses on the Battle of the Bulge, though Hürtgen, Nordwind, and other ops in the Oct-Jan timeframe are also possible within the limits of the forces available in the initial release. Those forces are American and German with an emphasis on the ones involved in the Bulge. There's a lot of new forces (Volksgrenadier and Gebirgsjäger) and vehicles (Jagdtiger, M24 Chaffee, etc.), but no Telly Savalas. What is less obvious are the myriad of small changes to otherwise familiar forces, such as random chances of more BARs for US Rifle Squads and only one LMG for Panzergrenadiers. These seemingly "minor details" add up to rather profound differences from other games. Medium Panzer Battalions with StuGs, for example, will certainly be noted by Quick Battle players who use the Random force options. Perhaps not with joy either!
Also in the near-term mix is our first ever Battle Pack, which is a collection of Campaign/s and/or Scenarios designed to extend existing game content. The idea is that when a Family is complete, or nearly so, we should do our best to make sure there's high quality content for it. Yes, there are lots and lots of fantastic player made battles to download, however you guys have made it clear to us that that neither player nor BFC made scenarios are substitutes for each other. This is our first test of that theory! The first Battle Pack is for CMBN and ties together the content of the Modules and Vehicle Pack.
In the mid-term we will switch our development efforts over to CMFI's second Module; Gothic Line. This takes CMFI through the end of the war and introduces a bunch of new forces. It's too early to spill the beans on details at this point, but for sure you'll see such things as Waffen SS and various Commonwealth forces.
We will also soon start work on the first Module for Red Thunder. The details of this are a little fuzzy at present, though it is safe to say that it will be packed full of fun. Think winter combat and the inclusion of Waffen SS and LW forces not seen in Red Thunder.
Black Sea is definitely not being neglected! After the Bulge game is released we're focused on extending the content of the existing Families instead of venturing into new ones until we get caught up on Modules. While more are planned they aren't going to be available for a while yet.
Besides new content we are starting work on Upgrade 4.0 very soon. We aren't sure when it will be ready for release, or specifically what will be in it yet, though we do have a long list based on your suggestions, so no worries there. What I can say is we're focusing this Upgrade on long standing requests. I can think of one that was first suggested sometime around 1998.
Well, I guess that's good to know. The other pages of the thread are indeed less interesting since they mostly containing trolling, complaining and asking for even more features - very much the same procedure as every year.
Source: Battlefront.com
As always we are hard at work on more than one thing at a time. The big project in our laps now is a new CM Family that takes the Western Front from October 1944 through to the end of the war. We had hoped to have Bulge out a few months ago, but there were some hiccups that caused delays. Delays don't make any of us happy, but it's better than the alternatives; releasing a game that really isn't ready or isn't as packed full of stuff as it should be. We're in the final testing stages so you'll start to hear more from us about the release quite soon.
The initial release focuses on the Battle of the Bulge, though Hürtgen, Nordwind, and other ops in the Oct-Jan timeframe are also possible within the limits of the forces available in the initial release. Those forces are American and German with an emphasis on the ones involved in the Bulge. There's a lot of new forces (Volksgrenadier and Gebirgsjäger) and vehicles (Jagdtiger, M24 Chaffee, etc.), but no Telly Savalas. What is less obvious are the myriad of small changes to otherwise familiar forces, such as random chances of more BARs for US Rifle Squads and only one LMG for Panzergrenadiers. These seemingly "minor details" add up to rather profound differences from other games. Medium Panzer Battalions with StuGs, for example, will certainly be noted by Quick Battle players who use the Random force options. Perhaps not with joy either!
Also in the near-term mix is our first ever Battle Pack, which is a collection of Campaign/s and/or Scenarios designed to extend existing game content. The idea is that when a Family is complete, or nearly so, we should do our best to make sure there's high quality content for it. Yes, there are lots and lots of fantastic player made battles to download, however you guys have made it clear to us that that neither player nor BFC made scenarios are substitutes for each other. This is our first test of that theory! The first Battle Pack is for CMBN and ties together the content of the Modules and Vehicle Pack.
In the mid-term we will switch our development efforts over to CMFI's second Module; Gothic Line. This takes CMFI through the end of the war and introduces a bunch of new forces. It's too early to spill the beans on details at this point, but for sure you'll see such things as Waffen SS and various Commonwealth forces.
We will also soon start work on the first Module for Red Thunder. The details of this are a little fuzzy at present, though it is safe to say that it will be packed full of fun. Think winter combat and the inclusion of Waffen SS and LW forces not seen in Red Thunder.
Black Sea is definitely not being neglected! After the Bulge game is released we're focused on extending the content of the existing Families instead of venturing into new ones until we get caught up on Modules. While more are planned they aren't going to be available for a while yet.
Besides new content we are starting work on Upgrade 4.0 very soon. We aren't sure when it will be ready for release, or specifically what will be in it yet, though we do have a long list based on your suggestions, so no worries there. What I can say is we're focusing this Upgrade on long standing requests. I can think of one that was first suggested sometime around 1998.
Well, I guess that's good to know. The other pages of the thread are indeed less interesting since they mostly containing trolling, complaining and asking for even more features - very much the same procedure as every year.
Source: Battlefront.com
